Now You're a Man... a Manly, Manly Man

[Unfortuntely, I'm having some issues uploading pictures to my blog from this computer... they will come later, i promise!]

We had so many rainy, cloudy, dark days in a row that it was starting to look like we weren't ever going to see the sun in Sydney again. But, at the last moment, this Sunday, which was our last full day in Sydney, turned out to be a perfect day. So Jackie, Eryn and I took advantage and headed out to Manly Beach to take in the sights and do the 10k (6-ish mile) beach walk.

Our first stop was the local Coles, to pick up some food for a picnic lunch. Mostly, we just got salads and fruit... But we did come across Simpsons themed hot dog flavored chips. Yes, that's right. Hot dog flavored. We were going to buy a bag just to bring home as a souvenir, but I decided perhaps taking a picture might be a better idea.

Anyhow, we proceeded to the beach, which was, of course, beautiful. Then after snapping a few photos, we headed over to the trailhead for the beach walk. Now, mind you, this was not just a "walk," as all the tour books might have you beleive. This was a full-fledged hike. It started out all nice, even and paved. But then it quickly turned to dirt, rock, puddles, steep inclines, steep declines, trees, mud, etc... although Eryn swore that she was going to end up face down in some dirty water, and Jackie did get a bit of a splash from the ocean at one of the beaches, and I stepped in more than a few puddles, we mostly all managed to get through the hike without getting too wet.

It was a long freaking hike (if I didn't mention it already), so we stopped off a few times. The first time, we found a nice looking beach/cove... Eryn took to writing some stuff in the sand:
It was kind of hard to stop her... she had written about 4 different phrases before we left. Jackie, on the other hand, was more about just standing around on some rocks and watching the waves come in... until one wave came in a little too far, and a little too fast. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of this.... I just heard a splash and a yelp, followed by Jackie's trademark laugh :)

The next stopping point was yet another beach (big surprise). But this time, we got a small surprise: a beagle puppy! Jackie nearly wet herself when she saw it (she is a beagle owner for those of you who don't know). But, I'm not gonna lie... I nearly wet myself when I got a little closer too. This puppy was SO cute. Like, "rivaling koala bears" cute. His name was Bob. He was teething and loved to play, so he'd nip at our hands when we pet him, which of course just made him even cuter. Bob also was very intent on getting to China... or... er, Canada? See, he was very intently digging a hole in the sand and his owner at one point said something to the effect of "next stop, China!" I didn't think about it until now, but I thought that was juts something Americans said since China is opposite the US on the globe. Hm.

ANYway, we made one more stop to call the folks back at the hotel to verify plans for the evening, then forged on to the Spit, which marks the end of the Manly Scenic Walkway. We're not exactly sure what The Spit is... It could be the body of water running underneath the Spit Bridge... Or it could be the general area around the bridge. Eh, who knows. The important part is that we were there, right? Right?

Right.

-e